Despite Heavy Rain, About 200 Citizens Attend Memorial Festival for Japanese Military 'Comfort Women' Victims in Seoul in South Korea

Despite heavy rain, about 200 citizens wearing yellow and purple butterfly-shaped ribbons on their left chests attended the festival, which was held beside the intact Statue of Peace for the first time in six years. Barricades installed around the statue since 2020 over concerns of vandalism by far-right groups were removed in May. Citizens lined up to take photos with the statue, which held yellow flowers placed by a visitor.

World Japanese Military 'Comfort Women' Memorial Day commemorates Aug. 14, 1991, when victim Kim Hak-soon (d. 1997) first testified about her suffering. It has been a government-designated legal memorial day since 2017. Surviving victim Lee Yong-soo, 98, said: Today is not just another day but Memorial Day. We must never forget.